Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Scott Walker is the candidate for you...if you pretty much hate everything

Infantilize women? Loathe working people? Fear youth? Despise teachers? Oppose educating future generations? Favor theocracy to the constitution? Prefer indoctrination to education? Think Wisconsin would be better off if only we had fewer educated people? Fetishize fetuses, but don't give a damn about women's lives? Love people who lie to your face?

Brother, have I got a candidate for you! Name's Walker. Scott Walker. And he's the man for the mission. Why, already in his first term he's tackled the hard stuff. Just take a look!

He's attacked working people. Again, and again, and again. Not just by cutting their educational opportunities -- impacting current and future generations in profound fashion. He's gone after labor unions. Early in his career, he sponsored right to work legislation -- legislation that completely busts unions and devastates workers' pay and safety. While he's slippery about committing to "right to work" now, he declared his union busting only a "first step". But it's not just busting unions and cutting educational opportunities. Why, this fine gentleman has declared that a minimum wage serves no purpose at all, and staunchly refuses to raise it to a living wage (despite it being, you know, Wisconsin law...because why should a governor have to put up with THAT noise, am I right?). Yes sir, this brave man thinks that you and your children should have limited educational opportunities, should be stripped of the workplace protections unions secure, and, as a bonus, live in abject poverty. Because, really, what "purpose" is there to any of that? The rights of working people are second to the profit of business.

He's steadfastly refused to allow poor, working Wisconsinites access to healthcare. This is important to the point above, but deserves a mention all on its own. Yes sir, Scott Walker has adamantly refused to expand healthcare access to the working poor. It's not that any sane person can pretend that a person working full-time on minimum wage has enough spare cash for health insurance; it's more that providing health care for the poor really serves no purpose. Serfs are expendable. And, yeah, his general contempt for working Wisconsinites is literally endangering lives and costing the rest of us as well, but the wealthy are doing fine, so it's all good. If you can't afford healthcare, your life doesn't matter.

He's attacked women. In the war on women, Scott Walker is General, not Governor. He's repealed equal pay protections (and then had the chutzpah to release an ad bragging that he didn't make pay discrimination legal...leaving out the whole "we removed penalties for violating it" bit...presumably on the thought that women are too silly to even notice. After all, we're probably better suited to dating sites than that thinking stuff, am I right?!). Bonus points? Champion of the effort, Walker ally and missing village idiot Glenn Grothman, championed the move by explaining how any disparity is really our faults anyway, because money is just "more important for men" than women. Walker has also withdrawn funding in order to shutter women's health clinics -- resulting in closure of many that did not even provide abortions -- because the idea of a woman exercising her right to choose is really terrifying to Walker. Yes, it makes no sense to shutter clinics that don't provide abortions (that, in fact, prevent them by providing family planning services) because you hate abortion; but, really, screw logic...as long as it hurts women, it's all good. Walker also opposes abortion in every case, and advocates a 100% "pro-life" agenda -- that is, banning abortion even in cases of rape, incest and when the life and health of the woman is at stake. Granted, a non-viable fetus can't survive if its mother is dead, and a viable fetus can be birthed early rather than aborted -- so, in effect, opposing abortion when a woman's life is on the line literally just means demanding that she dies too. But, come on, we're not seriously still pretending this is about loving fetuses rather than punishing women, are we? Also, Scott Walker was one of the ultrasound governors, singing into law a mandated ultrasound. And, despite conservative protestations to the contrary, this means mandatory transvaginal ultrasounds for women who are early in their pregnancies (for whom the less invasive ultrasound will not work). Also a Walker achievement? Admitting privileges, targeted at abortion providers -- unnecessary, arbitrary and designed to erect hurdles to practicing medicine (only, of course) for abortion providers. Bonus points? While patronizingly pretending to sympathize with women and respect abortion rights in public, Walker makes no pretense about his true views in private. Because, you know, we're too stupid to catch on to that. And beyond these policies directly targeting women, Walker's indirect impact on women is devastating too. So, in short, if you hate your mom, your sisters, your daughters, your girlfriend or wife, and women in general, Scott Walker is your man.He has attacked gay rights. And wasted lots of money in the process of trying to curtail the right of gay Wisconsinites to get married. And, rather than being shamed by his defeat on this front, rather than reevaluating his theocratic bigotry, Walker cites it as a reason for endorsement. He might have quieted down publicly about his bigotry, but make no mistake: he is as much a bigot as he ever was. Walker wasted state time and money attacking gay people, and is proud of it.

He's crafted his policies around the interests of wealthy supporters without regard for their impact on Wisconsinites. Brother, Scott is a man of principle. And his defining principle is "the love of money". He listens to the millionaires and the billionaires, to big business and moneyed interests. He does what they want, and they pay him accordingly. Remember, it was to a billionaire supporter that he promised to "divide and conquer" Wisconsin unions as a "first step" to right to work (her question, specifically, was about making Wisconsin a right to work state). He crafted a mining policy extremely beneficial to the mining company that donated $700,000 to support his election. Despite formerly being opposed to mining. You know, before the cash drop. His WEDC gave Ashley furniture a $6,000,000 tax credit to build headquarters in WI -- with permission lay off 1,900 employees (half its workforce), and no new job creation requirements. Did I mention that Ashley furniture owners are big Walker supporters, who promptly donated $20K to his reelection? And let's not forget the Koch brother prank call. Long story short, Scotty is as bought and paid for as they come: he'll destroy worker rights, pollute our waters and land, reward business for firing employees, etc., etc. -- as long as there is a payout at the end. His priorities are the lords, and the serfs can take a flying leap.

On top of it all, Walker abhors honesty. Walker makes a regular habit of prevarication. Whatever the topic, he's got an angle at odds with the truth.Jobs? Bah! Don't trust those numbers (that I told you last election were the gold standard). Choose these ones (that we said were untrustworthy last time), because they look better for me! Abortion? Well, that's a woman's choice! (Unless I get my way...) And the list goes on. Seriously, pick a campaign topic; there's a great chance that Walker has outright lied or significantly misrepresented it. If he's talked about it, he's probably lied about it.

In short, my friend, if you hate everyone but yourself, if you're wealthy, male and a raging douche canoe on top of it all, Scott Walker has got your interests at heart. You should vote for him. If you're anything else, and you support him, you're at best uninformed. Look at the facts, my friend, before it's too late. And we're all stuck suffering for your ignorance.